A touch of cockiness is discernable in his manner now; he is like a gambler convinced his every dice roll will come up double sixes.

Then, like a jilted reporter, Powell goes on to call Obama an “elusive starlet” and—no kidding—“a tease” when it comes to spending quality time with the press.

Meanwhile, reporter Patrick Healy warns readers/voters that the Clinton campaign has got the blues. Some staffers have even taken to turning off their Blackberrys after 9 p.m. and hitting the bottle (Why, oh why, weren’t they getting sauced before? $1,200 on donuts, but no booze? Talk about campaign strategy problems.)

Despite it all, Healy reassures, Hillary’s hanging in there:

Mrs. Clinton has, though, increasingly sought to keep her fate in perspective. In her debate in Texas on Thursday with Mr. Obama, she delivered what some viewers saw as a valedictory—but what she said was a simple expression from the heart—when she spoke warmly about the race and her rival.

“I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored,” she said. “And you know, whatever happens, we’re going to be fine.”

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Though the campaign has since changed its tune, the piece signs off with some loving lines from Clinton’s recently fired campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle:

“Hillary is incredibly tough—she grew up with two brothers and a strong father in the Midwest, so she knows a challenge... She has gone through so much, where someone like me would hide under the covers. But she gets up. She works. She tries.”

UPDATE: Though I’d say Healy’s story read like a rallying warning to Hillary supporters, her people disagree. And, according to the Huffington Post, they’re peeved that the paper won’t print a letter of objection from supporters—what editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal rightly calls a “press release.”